Irish recession, record-strong euro means Christmas boom for Northern Ireland shops

Northern Ireland (AP) -- Recession fears across Europe have consumers spending less and retailers fearful of the future. But one Northern Ireland border town is enjoying the biggest shopping spree in its history.
A record-strong euro and deepening recession in the neighboring Republic of Ireland have turned Newry in recent months into the most intensively shopped spot in Ireland -- if not the continent. The 5-mile (8-km) traffic jams and patience-shattering hunts for a parking spot are already the talk of the island.
The phenomenon could reach its peak this weekend before Christmas as tens of thousands travel from up to 12 hours' drive away to cash in on Northern Ireland shops pricing goods in record-cheap British pounds.

"No, never been to the 'black north' before. Never seen any reason to come," said Sean Magee, 35, a short-of-work construction worker from faraway Limerick, southwest Ireland, in the parking lot of Newry's glitziest shopping center, the 55-shop Quays.
Magee bore the broadest of smiles and the fullest of shopping carts. He and his two friends, who had traveled eight hours by work van the night before and slept rough in the back, were pushing similar loads of beer, cider and liquor -- much of it produced in the Irish Republic yet available for less than half the price in Northern Ireland.
"Never bought so much booze in one go before, but you'd be crazy not to. Think I'm good 'til St. Pat's," Magee said, referring to Ireland's national holiday of St. Patrick's Day on March 17. "And this is sure to be a New Year's to remember!"

Then he donned his best Arnold Schwarzenegger-as-Terminator accent and cast a cold eye back on the shopping center. "I'll be back," he said to laughter all around.
Veteran shoppers, store owners and retail experts long have watched the ebb and flow of shoppers across Ireland's border. Different sales-tax policies and the shifting values between the north's British pound versus the euro -- and, before 2002, the old Irish punt -- usually have meant particular goods were cheaper on one side than the other.
But never like this since Ireland's partition in 1921. These days, about the only thing cheaper in the south -- increasingly decried by shoppers as "the Rip-off Republic" -- is the vehicle fuel required to make the trip north.

Several months ago, the pound was worth 50 percent more than the euro, yet many British-priced goods already were cheaper than in the independent south. That reflects the better economies of scale and higher commercial competition in the United Kingdom versus the Irish Republic.
Today, thanks to a perfect storm of cross-border contrasts -- the euro is approaching parity in value with the pound, the British have cut sales tax while the Irish have raised theirs, and British retailers are slashing prices because of recession in Britain rather than boom in Northern Ireland -- savings for north-bound shoppers are at least 30 percent and usually more, depending on what you're buying.
For Fiona O'Mahony, a mother of two from the Dublin suburbs, it's all about the nappies, a.k.a. diapers.
"Pampers are a big part of the household budget these days. It's not festive, but it's reality," said O'Mahony, 32, whose cart was full of diapers, formula and children's clothes.

O'Mahony left behind the kids with hubbie for a cross-border raid with her girlfriends, who traveled up by convoy to ensure they could carry a maximum load back. They had debated whether to fly to New York City for Christmas shopping -- like they did at least annually, cashing in on the weak U.S. dollar during Ireland's Celtic Tiger boom that died last year -- but decided that Ulster was a better fit for newfound recession.
"No more 'Sex and the City' for us," she quipped. Instead, Belfast will substitute for New York as the girls planned deeper excursions into British territory over the weekend, reaching the mecca of many southern explorers -- Ireland's only Ikea, east of Belfast -- on Sunday.
"We'll never make it. We'll never have the room. I'll have to post one of the girls back to Dublin," she said.

The daily battle of Newry begins at dawn, as shoppers leave their hotel rooms -- like gold dust at the moment -- or arrive before 8 a.m. openings in vain hope of beating the build-up of traffic back to the border a few miles (kilometers) away.
Peter Murray has been general manager of Newry's oldest shopping center, the 60-shop Buttercrane, for the past 20 years and seen good times and bad -- and nothing like this.
"Newry is bucking all the doom and gloom thanks to the biting recession down south and the amazing power of the euro," Murray said.
He said the Buttercrane alone was getting about 200,000 shoppers a week -- this in a city with a population under 50,000 -- and shops were reporting 125 percent growth in sales from customers using euros.

[ForexGen Money Manager]

An individual who is responsible for the entire financial portfolio of another individual or another entity. A money manager receives payment in exchange for choosing and monitoring appropriate investments for the client.

Benefits of being a Money Manager with [ForexGen]:

* Providing three different commission sources.
* Weekly commission plan.
* Easy & fast commission withdrawals.
* Fixed percentage of the profits.
* P = k * D “P=Profit, k=Variable Parameter, D=Deposits”

The money manager gets a fixed percentage of the profit previously agreed upon with the client for managing the client funds as a bonus feature.

The most competitive trading conditions:

* 2 pips spread on six currency pairs.
* Providing online trading services without maintenance margin, margin call and no automatic closing of positions below the initial margin on weekdays for accounts with initial equity of up to $1 million US. The margin level have to be recognized Fridays at 23:00 CET and before public holidays.
* Leverages up to 1:200 for accounts up to $1 million US.
* Liquidity and 24/5 availability are the characteristic factors of the Forex market compared with other financial markets.